Dinos’ Park Kun-woo returns to league after injury

Park Kun-woo (32. In the photo) of the NC Dios came back to KBO league on July 12, almost one and a half months after listed on the Injured List due to pain in his thigh. Since then, Park raised his batting average (BA) during this season to 0.349, recording 0.386 of BA in 20 games after his comeback. Although he is short of 26 bats to the minimum requirements (310 bats) due to his temporary departure, his record is still higher than those of Jose Pirela (0.339) of the Samsung Lions or Lee Ju-hoo (0.339) of the Kium Heroes, who currently rank first and second in BA, respectively.

In terms of career batting average among active players, Park ranks at second with 0.328 (5th in total) following Lee (0.340). Yet, Park never won any personal title, on which commented “I do not care about the titles. It will be nice if I can earn one, but I’m more focused on the games at hand.”

Back in the second round of 2017, his BA from 60 games was 0.416. However, he failed at keeping his batting balance nearing the end of the season because he had thought too much about his 20 home-runs and 20 stolen base record. At the end, he couldn’t win the Gold Glove with his just right record of 20 home runs and stolen bases. Park said, “The more I play, the harder the games become. That is why I began not to think much about the title wins anymore.”

After playing in the Doosan Bears during the last season, he became a free agent and signed a six-year contract receiving 10 billion won with the NC Dinos. While his BA record was 0.351 for April, the team’s record was at the bottom, losing 17 and winning only eight games (winning percentage 0.320). “Who would want to be in the bottom ranking team?,” Park said. “But somebody has to lose for others to win the game. This is the world of professional players.”


Bo-Mi Im bom@donga.com